Airbag activation?

[Sash]

A while back i had a small accident with my Cupra... i hit a curb with the rim at 40 km/h and broke the rim then went on top of a lamppost which was right in front of me when i was on the side road...
The lamppost was in dirt, not concrete so the car did not hit it, rather it went on top of it and bent it, and the only damage was on my bumper...
now this idiot says that the airbag did not deployed and told me to check on VAG for airbag errors, even tough my car does not report any errors about the airbag..
I tried to tell him that it took me like 1 or 2 seconds to decelerate from 20 km/h to 0 which is about the same time it takes for a really hard braking... so technically the way the airbag is working by detecting sudden decelerations means that the airbags must deploy all the time at hard braking... i showed him links from howstuff works and the told me its different than real life..
what can i do to convince this idiot ? any suggestions?
Or he is right and i should go to the dealer and scan it with VAG for errors?

 

[Chan_P1_TDi_FR]

i think there is a recall for airbag fault on some mk2 leons. but not sure if this is related.

 

[potter]

Stole from another web site

Three parts to an airbag

1. The nylon fabric that is enclosed behind the wheel, in the door or on the dashboard.

2. A sensor that inflates the bag. This is usually set to be equivalent to a car hitting a wall at between 10 and 15 mph. A smaller bump will not set it off - but two electrical contacts touch when the impact speed reaches the critical amount.

3. The inflation system throws together sodium azide (NaN3) with potassium nitrate (KNO3) to make 35 litres of nitrogen gas. The bag inflates in a fraction of a second; to be precise it’s just 25 milliseconds (1/25 of a second) and the bag shoots out of the wheel at about 200mph. As you hit the bag, the gas escapes quickly through tiny holes thus slowing you to a complete stop.



Try this link for a very detailed crash information

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=...X&oi=book_result&resnum=4&ct=result#PPA180,M1

 

[Tam]

Simple answer,

Did your head hit the steering wheel or windscreen?

An air-bag is designed to stop your head hitting the wheel / windscreen, therefore will deploy only if it detects enough deceleration to cause you to hit your head.

If you didn't hit it, then there was no need for the airbag to go off

 

[Sash]

Simple answer,

Did your head hit the steering wheel or windscreen?

no...

 

[Tam]

no...

So with the exception of an additional £500 quid or so needed to replace airbag, airbag sensor, steering wheel etc. there was absolutely no need for it to go off.. so it didn't as per its design.

tell your mate to get a clue if i were you